Synchronizing system



Dec. 1, 1931. c 1, HALL SYNCHRONIZING SYSTEM Filed Feb. 12, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor". chesoeT I. Hal 4160 His Attorney.

Dec. 1, 1931.

c. l. HALL 1,834,340

SYNCHRONIZING SYSTEM Filed Feb. 12, 1929 4-Sheets-Sheet' 2 Inventor: Chester I. Hall His Abborngl Dec. 1, 1931. c. l. HALL 1,834,340

' SYNGHRONIZING SYSTEM Filed Feb. 12, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Inventor: (:Hester I. Hal

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Dec. 1, 1931. Q HALL 1,834,340

SYNCHRONI ZING SYSTEM Filed Feb. 12, 1929 4 Sheet Sheet 4 f mwmm (1 I r (V I" y 1 I H I r 5 V Inventor: w Chester- I. Hall b2 WWW His Abbomeg.

Patented Dec. 1, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHESTER I. HALL, OIE' P HILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGN'OR TO GENERAL ELEC TBIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK SYNO'HBONIZIN' G SYSTEMI- Application filed February 12, 1929. Serial No. 339,350.

main thoroughfare should be operated difi'erently at difierent times with respect to each other. For example, sometimes it is desir able to have the signals all operate simultanecusly, and again it maybe desirable to operate such signals progressively. One of the objects of my invention is to provide means whereby this may be readily done.

It is often the case that after the signals have been set to operate in afgiven relation one or more of the signals may cease to operate in this relation. It is one of the ob jects of my invention to provide means for readily restoring one or all of the signals to their proper relation.

However, the inventionwill be more readily understood from the accompanying specification and claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 shows the system as a whole diagrammatically. In this figure the transmitter, the circuits and the receivers are indicated, which receivers are of the electromagnetic step-bystep type.

Fig. 2 shows the transmitter in perspective and partly broken away with the door of the containing case open and with the transmitter mechanism swung out as a unit on its hinges.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic and perspective skeleton view of the transmitter of Fig. 2 and circuits connected thereto.

Fig. 4 is a similar view of one of the receivers.

Fig. 5 is a perspective View of one of the receivers, showing the door of the case open, and showing the receiver unit mechanism, partly broken away, swung out on its hinges.

Fig. 6 is a perspective rear view of the rear portion of the receiver, Fig. 5, showing the solenoid magnets of the step-by-step propelling mechanism and the walking beam thereof. I

Fig. 7 is a rear view of the front portion of thereceiver mechanism showing the front plate, gear of the propelling mechanism,

cams and related parts. I

Figs. 6 and 7, taken together, are in the nature of an exploded rear perspective view of the receiver.

Referring to the drawings and in particular to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the system comprises an impulse transmitter. located at any suitable point. This transmitter is shown diagrammatically in the lower part of Fig.1 and in detail in Fig. 2. This transmitter is provided with a motor driven device such as an induction disk motor, the field coils 2 and 3 of which are located one on either side of the armature disk 4. Through the medium of this armature an impulsesending device is operated which comprises a stationary contact 5 which is common to two other contacts 6 and 7 that alternately engage contact 5, the contact 5 being connected to one terminal of a source of current G, the other terminal of which is grounded. As shown in the drawings, the contact 6 is connected with a conductor 8, and contact 7 may. be connected with either conductors 9 or X, which conductors form elements in a cable that runs to each one of the signaling devices at each road intersection, each of which signaling devices comprises a receiver unit such as that shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, all of which are under the controlof the impulse sender.

In Fig, 1 two such receiving devices, A and B are diagrammatically shown representing two intersections. The receivers are all duplicates. Each one of these receivers is provided with a step-by-step motor device. For example, the receiver at intersection A, as indicated, has two solenoid coils 10 and 11, both of which are connected to a conductor 12, which in turn connects with a grounded cable conductor Y, thus connecting it with the grounded terminal of the current source G. The other. terminal of coil 11 is connected with conductor 14, which in turn is connected with cable conductor 8 that leads to contact 6 of the impulse sender. The other terminal of coil 10 is connected with a contact 15 which, with contacts 16 and 17 on either side thereof, forms a group of'three. Of this group, the contact '15 at station A is in engagement with the contact 17 while at the receiver B the corresponding contact 15 is in engagement with contact 16;

either of these contacts ma be connected to contact 7 of the sender. lhe solenoids 10 and 11 are provided each respectively with a core 18 and 19 (see Fig. 6), each core being connected to a terminal of a cross or walkin beam element 20, which is centrally pivote This beam operates a ratchet mechanism which controls a series of cams through the medium of'which the spring contacts 21, 22,

" 23 and 24 (see Figs. 5 and 1) are operated with respect to their corresponding contacts 25, 26, 27 and 28 respectively. Through the medium of these sprin s at each receiver (such as receivers A and and their contacts the signals at each corresponding intersection are operated. These signals are indi cated in Fig. 1 by the circles AM, AC, G

the cross roads.

and R, green and red being indicated by G and B respectively; AM indicates amber for the main highway, and AC amber for It will be understood that each signal unit may have four faces each 1 of. which is provided with three lenses, one

correspondin to the green, one corresponding to the re and a third corresponding to the amber, in which case the red signals for the main highway are connected together with the green signals of the cross road and vice versa. With the particular arrangement shown in/Fig. 1 the amber signals on the main highway are connected on one circuit and the amber signals on the. cross road are connected on a different circuit. That is, the AM signal is controlled through spring 21, and the AC signal is controlled through the spring 22.

Referring more in detail tothe transmitterdevice, this device is provided with a frame F, Fig. 2, on which are mounted the motor and its disc 4, together with the gears 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36, which gears are driven by the motor as indicated in Fig. 3. Through the medium of these gears the shaft .37a is rotated, upon which shaft a pair of toothed wheels 38 and 39 of insulatmaterial are secured with their teeth 0 set so that the contacts 6 and 7 may be operated to engage contact 5 alternately. One of these wheels, the wheel'38 controls the contact 6 and as it rotates it causes the contact 6 to make and break connection with the contact 5. The wheel 39, on the other hand, controls the contact 7 causin it to make and break connection with the contact 5.

It is necessary to vary the speed at different times and I provide means to enable this to be done. For example, in Fig. 3 the impulse wheels 38 and 39 are shown as being operated through the medium of the gear 34 on the shaft 37a. However, the gears 34 and 35 are connected to rotate as a unit I with the shaft but are slidably mounted thereon. Therefore, the shaft 37a may be driven through the medium of the gears 33 and 34 at one speed or through the medium of the gears 36 and 35 at a greater speed. For the purpose of shifting these gears an arm 35a is provided. This arm is secured to a sleeve 34a, Fig. 2, which sleeve is mounted on a shaft 342). This sleeve is provided with a spiral slot in which a pin 35?) plays, which pin is permanently secured to the shaft'34b. Therefore, by rotating the shaft one way or the other the pin 35?) may be moved to shift the gears 34 and 35 into and out of engagement respectively with the gears 33 and 36, thus changing the ratio of rotation of the shaft 37a with respect to the driving shaft 37. It will be seen that the forward end of the shaft 346 terminates in a lever arm 36a and, therefore, by rotating this lever the shifting operation can be readily performed from the front of the device. In order to lock the shaft 34?) against rotation after it has been set in a given position, the arm 36a is provided with a dog 36?) which is adapted to engage the peripheral section of an arc segment 375, secured to the front plate of the device.

While therate of sending impulses may be varied by shafting the gears, as indicated, it may also be varied by regulating the speed of the motor. For this purpose the motor is provided with shading coils between the coils 2 and 3 of the motor and the disk 4, one of which coils is adjustably mounted about the axis of the coil 2, on a shaft which terminates in the arm 38a, Fig. 2. This arm is also provided with a dog 38b adapted to engage the teeth on the periphery of the seg ment 39a in order to hold the arm in its set position.

Referring to the mechanical details of the receiver, the solenoids 10 and 11 of the stepby-step motor are secured to the rear plate 40 of the receiver and the walking beam 20 is secured to the end of the shaft 41. This shaft projects through a hole 42 in the plate 40, which plate serves as a rear bearing for the shaft 41, while the plate 43 serves as the front bearing for the same shaft.

The plungers 18 and 19 are connected with the arm 20 through the medium of coiled springs 18 and 19 respectively, one end of each spring being connected to a corresponding plunger and the other end of the same g spring being connected to the arm 20. The

ratchet drive which comprises the arm 44 and gear 45. (See also Fig. 4.) The arm is provided with pins 46 and 46, one near each end. Obviously, theoscillation of the shaft 41 causes thegear to advance in the direction of the arrow Fig. 7. Associated with the gear 45, and having a common axis of rotation therewith, there is a pair of main cams 47 and 48, which are secured together by means of a pin 49. The cam 47 is permanently adjusted with respect to the cam 48. During certain portions of the cycle of operation of the cams, the cam 52 is secured with respect to the gear 45 and rotates therewith, consequently the cam 48 also is permanently secured with respect to the gear 45 and rotates therewith. The cam 47 is secured to a hollow shaft 47a which terminates in front of the frame plate 43 (see Fig. 5) in a disc 50 which rotates with the cams 47 and 48 and to the front side of which there is.

secured a dial 51. As shown the cam 48 is provided with an auxiliary cam 52, which lat. ter is secured to a hollow shaft 52 that terminates in the segment 53 located in front of the dial 51 Fig. 5. Associated with this segment there is a control-arm 54 for the seg: ment which is provided with a dog 55 adapted toengagc the teeth of the dial 51. By adjnsting-the arm in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, Fig. 5, the segment 53 the shaft 64. By rotating the segment 53 either in a clockwise or in a chunter-clockwise direction, Fig. 5, the cam 52 may be prevented from rotating in a counter-clockwise direction, Fig. 7, by the arm 66, thus locking the segmentagainst counter-clockwise rotation. adjusted in a counterclockwise direction while the segment 53 is locked, the latter will not be able to follow. On the contrary, the operation ofthe motor will advance the arm 54 in a clockwise direction, Fig. 5, together with the dial 51, which arm will eventually meet and pick up the segment-53, carrying the segment on with it as indicated, for example, in Fig. 5.

It will be seen that the cam 52 operates as an extension of the cam 48 and that the major radii of the cams 48 and 52 are the same. The main cam 47 has three rim sec; tions located at different distances from the axis of the cam so that it has three different steps, as shown in Fig. 4. Associated with Therefore, if the arm 54 is the cam 47 there is an auxiliary cam'56 related to the cam 47 in a manner similar to that in which the cam 52 is related to the cam 48. The auxiliary cam 56 operates as an extension of the cam surface 54a of major radius.

The cam 56 is mounted on a tubular shaft which terminates in front of the frame 43 in an arm 57 which is similar to the arm 54 and is similarly provided with a dog 58 that engages the teeth 59 on the dial 51.

Associated with the-auxiliary cam 52 there is provided a third auxiliary cam 60 which is secured to the shaft 61. which shaft terminates in the front of the frame 43 in an arm 62, which latter is similar to arms 54 and 57, and which arm is provided with a dog 63 thatengages the teeth 63a on the dial segment 53. Therefore, through the medium of the dogs. 55, 58 and 63, and their corresponding arms,-it is possible to adjust the auxiliary cams 52, 56 and 60. Obviously, when the dogs are latched as indicated in Fig. 5 the rotation of the gear wheel 45 will cause the rotation of all of the cams, as well as the rotation of the disc 50, of the dial 51. and of the segment 53. Associated with the cams above described there is a pair of arms 65 and 67 which are both pivoted to the post 64. The arm 65 isprovided with a tail piece 66 which is bent parallel to the axis of rotation of the cams and which is in operative relation to the cams 60, 52 and 48. The arm 67 is provided with a similar tail piece 67 a which is bent parallel to the axis of the cams and is in operative relation to the cams 56 and 47. It will be seenthat the arm 65 is under the control of the arm 67 and that the arrangement is such that the arm 65 is under the control of a coil spring 65a on the post 64 and tends to rotate the arm 65 in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed from left to right,

dicated, the arm 67 is provided at one end with a section which engages the cams 56 and 47 and in addition at the opposite end it is provided with an arm 67 0 extending parallel to the axis of rotation of the cams and transverse the arm 65 which latter it engages and controls during certain intervals in the cycle of operation. The arm65 is provided at the end opposite the tail piece 66 with a bar 68, which oscillates with the arm about the axis of the post 64. This bar controls the operation of the circuit closing springs 21, 22, 23, and 24,-Fig. 1, with respect to their corresponding contacts 25, 26, 27 and 28. It will be understood that while the tail piece 67a is riding along the surface of maximum radius of the cam 47 or along the higher portions of the spiral section 53a, the arm 65 is left to respond to the action of its own spring 65a, until the tail piece 66 reaches the lowest position of the cams corresponding to the minimum radius. After tlns stage of the operation is reached the arm 65 is restored by the arm 67 to a position in which it engages the cam surface of maxlmum radius of the cams 48 or 52 and thereafter the cycle of operation of the arm 65 s repeated as before. It will be understood that after the tail piece 67a leaves the surface of maximum radius on the cam 47 it falls on to the surface of-intermediate radius, at which time it advances the arm 65 only part way. However, when the tail piece 67 finally falls on the surface'53 of minimum radius the tail piece 66 is raised to the position of maximum radius on cam 48. It is during the period that the tail piece 66 is passing over cams 48 and 52 in its cycle of operation that the tail piece 67 gradually attains its position on the cam 47 of maximum radius by way of the spiral surface 5'3 of the cam 47, causing the arm 67 to gradually recede from arm 65.

As already indicated, and referring to Fig. 1, the solenoid 11 has one terminal directly connected to the cable conductor Y which leads to a suitable source of current supply, while the other terminal is connected directly to the contact 6 of the impulse sender by Way of the conductor 8, and thence to the other terminal 13 of the same source. Obviously, therefore, as long as the impulse sender continues tooperate impulses will be transmitted to the solenoid 11 which will continue to operate step by step. On the other hand, the solenoid 10, while it has one'side connected permanently to the conductor 'Y, its

other side, which in turn is connected to contact 15, may be connected to-the impulse contact 7 at the impulse sender by way of the alternate contacts 16 and 17 and is subject to be operated step by step by the impulse sender. The contact 15 is under the control of the disc 50, which disc is provided with a series of holes 50 near its periphery, see Fig. 5, into any one of which a suitable pin 69 may be inserted. The contact 15 is provided with an element 70 in the path of the pin 69 so that when the pin 69 reaches a position opposite the element 70, the contact 15 is shifted from engagement with contact 17 and into engagement instead with the contact 16. It will be seen that the contact 16 may be connectcd with spring contact 7 by way of the switch 71 at the impulse sender, (see Fig. 1) and if this switch is openedthe circuit for the solenoid 10 cannot be completed after the pin 69 engages the element 70. Consequently, the arm 20 of the receiver will not oscillate and therefore the disc 50 will remain with the pin engaging the element 70 as long as the switch 71 remains open as indicated at receiver B. Any of the other receiving stations, such as station A, along the line,

holes 50 in any relation to each other, thus determin-,

however, will continue to advance until its pin '69'engages the element 70. of thestations reaches-this position its disc will cease to advance, notwithstandin the impulses since the switch 71 is open. If, owever, during the normal operation of the system the switch 71 remains closed, the shifting of the contact 15 will will reach the solenoid 10 at one time over the conductor 9 and at another time over the conductor X with the result that the receivers will continue to operate regardless of whether they are in I synchronism or not. If it is found, however, that one or more of the receivers are out of synchronism they may all be brought back into synchronism b allowing the switch 71 to remain open Jurin a suilicient time interval, at. least a compfete cycle of operation of all the receivers, so as to bring all of the receivers to rest in engagenient. with the contacts 16. After this has taken place closing the switch 71 will'start all of the receivers in synchronism and the operation willcontinue as before.

It will be seen that by the provision of the on the disks 50 the pins 69 may set ing the relation between the signals along the highway at the various intersections. In other words, the go signals may, for exam le, be caused to appear simultaneously or they may be caused to appear progressively.

hile'I have described in the foregoing how the re-synchronizing operation can be produced by the manual control of the switch 71, the same operation can be carried out automatically through the medium of cam 85 and springs 79, and 81. When theautom'atic operation is desired, switches 71 and 716 are opened and 71a is closed. The springs 79 and 80 as shown in Fig. 1 are under the control of a cam on the surface of which the forward ends of the springs 79 and 80 rest. The cam 85 is under the control of the motor of the sender, as indicated in Fig. 3, and is rotated thereby in the direction indicated by the arrow. This cam 85 and the gear 87 are secured to a common sleeve mounted to rotate on a stationary shaft 86 which latter is secured to the broken section of the plate F .1 It will be seen that the gear 87' is driven by a pinion 88 on the shaft 37a. It will be understood that the springs 79, 80 and 81 are secured to the broken section of the block of insulation 82. w p

In the position of the cam 85 shown in Fig. 1, the springs 79 and 80 are in engagement, thus connecting spring 7 with conductor 9 and withcontact 17, but as the cam advances slightly the spring 80 clears the upper surface of the cam at the point 90 and falls on the lower surface 91 of the cam, with the result that the engagement is broken and connection interrupted between spring 7 and As each one make no difl'erence' since the impulse from the spring contact 7 conductor9. The spring 80 is provided with 81, preventing engagement between springs 81 and 79 when the latter is engaging spring 80. However, when the spring 80 passes the point 90 the pin 92 becomes suiiiciently depressed to enable springs 79 and 81 to engage, thereby establishing a connection between the spring 7 and the conductorX, and therefore with the contact 16 at the receiver A. As the cam 85 advances slightly the spring 79 also clears the point 90 of the cam 85 With the result that connection is broken between springs 79 and 81 and reestablished between springs 79 and 80, thus restoring connection between contact 7 and the conductor 9 and therefore with the contacts 17 at the receiver stations. As the cam continues to rotate springs 79 and 81 gradually rise together and the pin 92 rises with them with the result that the spring 81 is also gradually raised. When spring 80 again clears the point 90 of the cam, the same operation as before described is repeated. It will be seen that with this arrangement the contacts 16 and 17 are alternately connected to the contact 7 once during each rotation of the cam 85. Obviously, therefore, if one of the receivers, such as the receiver B, gets out of synchronism with the sender it will continue to advance until the pin 69 strikes the element 70, whereupon the contact 15 is shifted from contact 17 with the result that the receiver B will not be able to advance with the other receivers until the cam 85 reaches the point where the springs 79 and 81 close the circuit between the contact 7 and the cable conductor X. When this takes place all of the receivers will again be in synchronism and from then on the receiver B will so continue inasmuch as, as soon as the next step is taken, all of the contacts 15 reengage with all of the contacts 17 at the receivers, and at the same time the springs 79 and 80 at the transmitter return into engagement. It will be understood, therefore, that the interval of engagement between the springs 79 and 81 corresponds to the interval that the contacts 15 and 16 re- .main in engagement. As long as all of the receivers are in synchronism they will continue in synchronism notwithstanding the switching operations of the springs. Thus it will be seen that the synchronous operation of the receivers is insured automatically without the necessity of manual intervention as by the operation of the switch 71. Obviously, the automatic control may be disconnected and the manual restored by closing switches 71 and 71b and opening 71a.

It will be understood that the ratchet and pawl arrangement between the arm 20 and the gear 45 at the receiver Fig. 7, is such, that the gear advances one half a step at the time of energization of either one of the solenoids 10 or 11 and that it takes an energization of both 10 and 11 to advance the gear one step. Furthermore, the disc 50 is provided with as many holes 50a for pin 69 as there are steps during each rotation which number of steps is equal to the number of teeth on gear 45. For example, assuming that the gear 45 has 30 teeth then the device will take 30 steps to make a complete rotation and the disc 50 will be supplied with 30 holes so that the pin 69 can be placed in any one of thirty different positions. Furthermore, if it is assumed that the wheel 38 (or the wheel 39) has 6 teeth, then the spring 6 will engage the spring 5 six times during each rotation of the shaft 37a. Consequently, since it will take five revolutions of wheel 38 for each rotation of the disc 50 and since for each rotation of disc 50 cam 85 can rotate only once, the gear ratio between the shaft 37 a and the shaft 86 Will have to be a ratio of 5 to 1. In other words, the wheel 38 will have to rotate five times for each rotation of the cam 85 and therefore for each rotation of the disc 50 at the receiver station.

The circuit controller shown in Fig. 5 is not claimed herein as it forms the subject matter of my application Serial No. 124,914, filed July 26, 1926 and my application Serial No. 339,349, filed February 12, 1929, both assigned to the assignee of my present application.

It will be understood thatwhile I have elected to illustrate and describe my invention in connection with specific apparatus, I do not wish to be limited to such apparatus, inasmuch as I contemplate variations and modifications without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims contained herein.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In combination, a plurality of continuously rotating circuit controllers, means for operating said circuit controllers in a certain timed relation, and means for maintaining said circuit controllers in synchronism comprising a master controller, a control cir cuit connecting the master controller to the circuit controllers, electrically operated means at each circuit controller through which turning movement of such circuit controller is effected, said means including a switch for connecting said electrically operated means to said control circuit, and

means at each circuit controller for actuating its switch comprising a disk which rotates with the circuit controller and is provided with a plurality of spaced openings, and a pin adapted to be positioned in any one of said openings whereby the timed relation among the circuit controllers can be varied by changing the positions of said pins.

2. In combination, a plurality of circuit controllers each comprisin a ratchet wheel,

a rocking arm opposite en s of which alternately engage said ratchet wheel to effect turning movement thereof, and a pair of electro-magnets for rocking said arm, means for alternately energizing said electro-magnets, and means for maintaining said circuit controllers in synchronism comprising a master controller, a control circuit connecting the master controller to each circuit controller, a switch for connecting one of the electromagnets at each circuit controller to said control circuit, and means at each circuit controller for actuating its switch, said means being circumferentially adjustable whereby the timed relation among the circuit controllers can be varied.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 9 day of Feb.-, 1929.

CHESTER I. HALL. 

